ReverseRebirth
by ShadowJ51
Summary: Part 8 of a series. Sequel to Hidden World. As the aftershocks of armageddon quiet, the digidestined try to pick up the pieces. Can they pull themselves back together for one last fight?
1. Aftermath

Aftermath

Shadow- "Hello everyone! I'm back! With another part to the story. Now, for the obligatory intro:

Welcome to the start of part eight! To new readers, welcome! And to old readers, welcome back! If you haven't read part one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven of my story (The Coming Sunset, Nightfall, Through the Darkness, Road to Dawn, Mainframe, Dark Worlds, and Hidden World), please go to my profile page, and read those first. Or else this part won't make any sense to you whatsoever.

And to long-time readers: Yes. I am finally getting back to the others now. Oh, and digi-writer1392? Let me just say in advance: I'm sorry."

Renamon- "For what?"

Shadow- "You'll see..."

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "And please review. Anything at all would be nice..."

_

* * *

_

_Where am I?_

_What happened?_

_Okay, get a hold of yourself..._

_Revemon... killed..._

_Oh no..._

_Obscamon..._

_No... after that..._

_He talked to some one..._

_Then..._

_...He... killed me...?_

_...Then...is this... death...?_

**n. digital world**

The entire digital world shook from the collision between the three real worlds. Tidal waves washed clean thousands of miles of earth. Entire forests were flattened. Villages were destroyed. Primary village was wiped off the planet. The D-reaper's old home was filled to the brim with water, and became a lake. More importantly, all the digidestineds who managed to escape in time were tossed randomly around the main digital continent.

A groan rose from the rubble of one of the forests. Takato gingerly freed himself from the rubble. He shook his head to clear it, then looked around. Seeing nothing of interest, he looked up.

He gasped as he saw a tear in the sky, which showed a burning field of flying rock, which whizzed around, smashing itself into smaller and smaller pieces. Takato was hypnotized by the display. He stood still, staring up at the sky, until a voice brought him back to earth.

"Hey gogglehead. Wake up."

Takato turned, and saw Rika. Her shirt and pants were torn, though miraculously nothing important showed. (Shadow: Let's not stray into "M" territory...) Her belt which she carried her digimon cards on was missing, though she was still wearing a necklace which had an oval gold object on it.

Takato smiled slightly. "Rough trip?"

Rika raised an eyebrow. "Yeah... looks like you had fun, too."

Takato looked down. His shirt and shorts were also torn. His digivice was missing. He searched frantically for it.

Rika smiled. "Looking for your goggles?"

Takato started. "My gogg..." He reached up to his head. No goggles. He sighed. "Damn it... no goggles and no digivice... this is not good..."

Rika shrugged. "Not that it would do you any good, anyways. Renamon and Guilmon and who knows where, and I can't reach anyone else with this stupid thing..." she held up her digivice. "...just static... I don't know if we're the only ones... or if there's something else wrong."

Takato sighed. "Well... what now?"

Rika smiled again. "We do what we always do. We start walking."

Takato looked around one last time for his goggles. No luck. He sighed again, and followed Rika through the toothpick-sized remains of the forest.

**unknown**

Kari's eyes flickered once, then opened.

She tried to get up, but failed. Not because she was hurt. Because she was floating. She looked around.

She was floating in pure whiteness. No colors, patterns, or anything. Just endless white. In fact, if some of the other digidestined hadn't been floating nearby, there would have been nothing at all.

Quite a few of the others were floating near her. _They're not moving... I hope they aren't hurt... _She looked around for Tai, but didn't see him. A noise behind her made her jump. (Shadow okay, float up sightly, but it still works.) She turned.

Justin floated in front of her, smiling sadly. "Hey, Kari."

Kari blinked in surprise. "Justin? ...but ...we thought you were dead..."

Justin nodded. "I am."

"Then... how..."

Justin sighed, and shook his head. "Haven't you figured it out yet, Kari? I'm dead. Those around us are dead." he paused for a moment. "...and so are you..."


	2. Realization

Realization

Shadow- "Yet another chapter. Nothing really to say here... except, of course, I don't own digimon. And please review!"

* * *

**unknown**

"...wait..." Kari whispered. "...say that again..."

Justin closed his eyes. "Kari... I'm sorry... but you're dead..."

"That... that can't be..." Kari whispered.

Justin opened his eyes. "Kari... what's the last thing you remember before you found yourself here?"

Kari closed her eyes in thought for a moment. "I left my house... and walked through the park... then..." she was silent for a moment, then started to sob. "It can't... but..." she started crying harder.

Justin floated in place, unsure of what to do. He finally reached out and patted Kari on the shoulder. She pulled him closer, and cried onto his shoulder. She continued sobbing for a few minutes, before taking a deep breath, and letting go of Justin.

Justin sighed. "If it makes you feel any better... your brother's still alive..."

Kari shook her head. "How do we know that...? He might be elsewhere..."

Justin smiled. "That's one of the perks of being dead... you can check in on the living..."

Kari looked up. "...how?"

Justin smiled sadly. "When I died... I wanted to know how Rika was doing... how she was handling what happened... and a view of her just popped up... I guess, if you want to see him... just try to..."

Kari nodded. She closed her eyes for a moment. A view of the digital world appeared. She opened her eyes. Justin moved next to her to see what was going on. "Look, there's Tai!" Kari said.

The screen zoomed in on Tai, and they could hear him talking.

**n. digital world**

Tai was standing next to Izzy and TK. Tai was holding out his cell phone.

"-hy can't I call anyone?" he said to Izzy.

Izzy shrugged. "I'm not sure... but if I had to guess, it'd have something to do with that up there." he said, gesturing to the fireworks of destruction that continued to explode in the sky.

Tai sighed. "Well... can't we contact anyone?"

Izzy shook his head. "It doesn't look like it. Once the sky settles down, we might be able to contact someone... but that could take days."

Tai growled in frustration. "Damn it!"

TK shook his head. "I hope the others are all alright..."

"Well, at least you know Kari's safe." said Izzy.

"That's just it!" Tai yelled. "I don't! She went for a walk before... whatever happened, happened."

"Oh! That reminds me." TK said. "What was it that happened, anyways?"

Izzy hesitated. "I have no idea... it looked like two others worlds were colliding with ours... but that's nev..." he trailed off.

"What?" Tai said.

"Wait..." Izzy whispered. "The same thing that happened to the digital world... happened to us..."

The three of them looked at each other. "Oh my god..." TK whispered. "You mean... the other two worlds... were..."

Izzy nodded. "We need to find the others. All of the others. Including the ones from the other two worlds."

Tai nodded. "Well, let's get going."

Izzy nodded, and followed. TK stood still for a moment, then followed. He whispered to himself. "How many billions died... it's not possible..."

**unknown**

Kari's eyes were wide, and she was covering her mouth with her hands in shock. Justin gestured at the screen, and it disappeared.

Kari turned to Justin. "How many..."

Justin shook his head. "I don't know. But pretty much everyone that's here we know. That's Kouji and Koichi there," he said, gesturing at the two brothers floating below them. "...but there's a few I don't know. They said they're digidestined, but..."

He floated upwards, and Kari quickly followed him. He stopped next to a group of six kids. Five of them were still asleep, but one girl was awake. She looked over at Justin and Kari. "Hello, again." she said. "Any news?"

"Not really." Justin said. "Everyone who's alive is staying that way."

The girl nodded. She looked over at Kari. "Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't said who I am yet. My name's Erika. What's yours?"


	3. White, Silver, and Black

White, Silver, and Black

Shadow- "Hey everyone. Another new chapter! Oh, and I apologize again to digi-writer1392. And no, I'm not crazy. Or insane. At least, I don't think so... but would I be able to tell?"

Renamon- "Well... how many other stories are you working on?"

Shadow- "Like... five, I think... but they might not all work out..."

Renamon- "Five?! All for digimon?!"

Shadow- "Yeah... I came up with one for something else, but... what?"

Renamon- "She's right... you are insane..."

Shadow- "Thanks for the vote of confidence..."

Renamon- "Fortunately, Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Yeah, right. Now go read! (And review! You know who you are!)"

* * *

**n. digital world**

Rika carefully picked her way through the remains of the digital forest, lit only by the light cast by the burning worlds in the sky. The sun seemed to hide its face, ashamed at the pathetic levels of light it produced. Rika looked back, and saw Takato still pathetically trying to follow her. She turned away from him.

_If that idiot can't keep up with me, oh well. Serves him right, considering what that... that..._

She shook her head. _Damn it... of all the times to run out of curse words..._

She climbed up the half-rotted remains of a log, and looked around. Desolation surrounded them. The only thing for miles was endless ruin. The only notable was a small hill, probably no bigger than the trees that had originally stood around here, off in the distance. She turned back towards Takato.

"Hey! Gogglehead!" Takato looked up. "Get your ass moving, or I'm leaving you behind!"

Takato jumped, and tried to move faster. Rika slid down the tree, and headed off towards the hill. She smirked. _I hope he hurts himself..._

**n. digital world**

A group of mountains sat bathing in the light of the destroyed worlds. Though no trees had been here to destroy, several rock slides had blocked paths, making travel difficult for the group of three boys.

Izzy climbed over another rock, carefully clutching his computer, followed closely by a very angry Tai and a quiet TK.

Tai checked his digivice again. Still just static. He tilted his head back, and shouted "Damn it, Kari, where are you?!?!"

Izzy winced. "Tai, could you not do that every five minutes?"

Tai bowed his head, depressed. "...where is she..." he murmured.

TK nodded. "Yeah... her and everyone else..."

Izzy sighed. "Well, we'll never find anyone if we just sit here talking." he pointed out.

Tai's head snapped up. "Right! So let's go!!" he scrambled over another rock, and out of sight.

Izzy shook his head. "... that's not what I meant..."

TK sighed. "How soon 'till he hurts himself, you think?"

Izyy tried to answer, but was cut off by a yell from up ahead. "That was quick." TK said.

The two boys climbed over the rock Tai had just scaled, and found Tai upright, unhurt, and gesturing wildly at them. "Look! Over there!"

TK and Izzy followed Tai's pointing. There was a large crater in the ground, with voices drifting out of it. After listening for a moment, Izzy's eyes widened. "Trish?!"

After a few moments, the reply came. "Yeah! Hey Izzy! There's a few others here, as well! Is Joe with you?"

Izzy laughed. "No, he's not! Why?"

"That Willis kid is down here too, and he's hurt!"

Tai cursed. "Damn it! Let's go help!"

Izzy and TK nodded, and began to make their way down into the crater.

**n. digital world**

Rika wiped her forehead with the back of her arm. It came away slightly damp. _Damn... I need to work out more..._

She heard a wheezing sound behind her. She turned and saw Takato on the ground gasping for breath. She ignored him.

She looked up at the small mound of earth. _Well... now that we're here... now what?_

"Hey, Gogglehead!" Rika yelled without looking at him. "Climb up there and see what's around!"

Takato didn't move. _Damn it. _she thought. _First he kills J-... him, and now he's a lazy-ass little..._

Her eyes narrowed. She aimed a kick at Takato, but stopped when she heard a voice say "That's really not necessary, is it?"

She turned around. A small bent-over digimon had stepped from a doorway the had appeared in the side of the mound. It smiled. "Please, come in. It looks like rain."

As if to validate his words, a distant rumble of thunder rolled across the wasteland. Rika looked back at Takato, shrugged, garbbed him and dragged him inside after the old digimon just as the first raindrops began to fall.

**unknown**

"Erika, huh?" Kari said, looking at the black-haired girl in front of her. "My name's Kari. Nice to meet you."

"Yeah." Erika answered. She turned to Justin. "Hey, kid."

Justin's eyes darkened. "I've told you my name before. Why don't you use it?"

Erika shrugged. "Easier this way."

"Not if you call everyone 'kid'." Justin replied.

Erika ignored him. "Anyways, do you know why our digivices are glowing yet?"

Justin sighed. "It's been five minutes since we last talked."

Erika shrugged. "So?"

"Wait, hold on, what about our digivices?" Kari asked.

Erika turned back to Kari. She took out her digivice, which was glowing black. "They're glowing. Same color our digimon did when we were fighting Revemon."

Kari took out her digivice. It shone with a bright white light.

Justin nodded. "No surprises there. You have the crest of light, after all."

Kari turned to Justin. "So, you think these...um..."

"Revemon called them 'Crest Auras'." Erika said.

Kari nodded. "...these 'auras' are tied to our crests?"

Justin nodded. "Yeah." he said, taking out his digivice. It glowed silver. "But that's not the weirdest thing."

He floated over to some of Erika's friends. "Green..yellow... blue... everything you'd expect..."

He stopped short next to the only girl in the group. "... but this is where it gets weird."

Kari and Erika floated over to where Justin was. Kari gasped. Erika said. "What the hell?"

Justin nodded. "Yeah. Her aura is silver, too. Just as Kouji's is white, and Koichi's is black."

"Wait... I thought everyone had a unique crest..." Kari whispered.

Justin nodded. "So did I but... apparently not..."

Erika shook her head. "What the fuck is going on here?" she whispered.


	4. The Falling Rain

The Falling Rain

Shadow- "Welcome back to the story. It appears that the e-mail system isn't working right now, so I'll probably get about twenty e-mails in my in-box in a few days... so, sorry to those who have messaged me and are waiting for a response."

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "And please review! I'll even write you something back! (maybe even review a few of your stories!)"

**n. digital world**

_...huh?_

_...where am I?_

"H-hello?"

"About time you woke up, gogglehead."

Takato shook his head to clear it, and pushed himself up.

Rika was sitting at a table with an old-looking digimon, drinking tea. Takato tried to stand up, but hit his head on the ceiling. "Ow..."

Rika chuckled. "Oh, by the way, the ceiling's a bit low."

Takato rubbed his head. _Yeah... thanks for the warning..._

The old digimon shook his head. "This is really not the things the chosen ones should say to each other."

Takato blinked. "...chosen...?"

Rika smiled. "He means digidestined. I kinda wondered about that too, but... well, let's just say he looks good for his age."

"Looks good?" Takato looked the digimon over again. It looked old. Very old. "Umm..."

The digimon snorted. "I'll have you know that I'm nearly as old as the gods themselves! When you're several thousand years old, I'll bet you won't look half as good!"

"Umm... okay..." Takato mumbled.

The digimon chuckled. "Come, sit down. The rain outside will last for a while longer."

Takato half-crawled to a seat at the table next to Rika, and sat down. Rika scooted her chair away from him.

Takato looked over at Rika. "What's up with you? You've been acting cold lately... even colder than normal. What's wrong?"

Rika snorted. "As if you didn't know."

Takato blinked. "Umm... I... don't..."

Rika snorted again. "Yeah right. I can't believe you have the nerve to pull this shit after what you did!" She stood up, hitting her head on the ceiling. "Damn it!!" She punched the ceiling hard, stormed over to the door, kicked it open, and walked out into the rain.

Takato blinked again. "...what was that about?"

The old digimon sipped his tea. "Why don't you go ask her?"

Takato laughed. "Are you kidding? If I go out there, she'll do to me what she did to that door!"

The old digimon took another sip. "Friendships do sometimes take some work..."

Takato waited for a moment, then sighed, and walked out into the rain.

**n. digital world**

Rika sat outside in the rain, leaning back against the wall of the old digimon's home, letting the rain run through her hair and down her face. She shook her head, spraying the wall with rain.

_Damn that... stupid gogglehead... acting like an idiot... not remembering what he did..._

She looked down at her hand, the one she had punched the ceiling with. Blood ran down between the knuckles, mixed with rain, and dripped off her fingertips.

She heard the door creak, and looked up.

She saw Takato poking his head around the corner, looking at her.

She turned away, and snorted.

After a moment, she heard Takato close the door behind him, and walk over to where she was sitting. He sat down beside her.

Rika continued to ignore him.

After sitting next to her for a few minutes, Takato started to say something, stopped, and finally managed to ask "What's wrong?"

Rika sighed. "You know 'what's wrong'."

Takato swallowed hard. "...no... I don't..."

Rika turned on him, her eyes flashing. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Takato cringed.

"You just waltz around, acting like you're the good-guy, acting like you're the greatest, and you don't care what happens!! So you killed your friend! So what?!! So you helped destroy our world!! So what?!?!?! You don't even care what the hell happens!!!"

Rika took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.

Takato swallowed again. "R-rika? What's changed?"

Rika stared at him. "What do you mean?!"

Takato quavered, but still said "A-after I went berserk... and nearly killed Beezlemon... you were still my friend... we've been through rough places before... but what's different now?"

Rika stared at him incredulously. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You killed Justin! I... I..."

She sighed, and looked away. "I loved him... and you... you killed him..." she whispered.

Takato stared at the ground. "Rika...I... he was going to..."

Rika closed her eyes. She sniffed. "Takato... he was right... we destroyed our world..."

Takato sighed. "Yeah... but that's not it..."

Rika's eyes snapped open. "What do you mean, that's not it?!?!"

Takato continued looking at the ground. "Even before that... you've been acting cold... even before we left the mainframe the first time..."

Rika stiffened. Takato continued. "Rika... did you see... what happened between Jeri and me? Back then in the forest?"

Rika's eyes half-closed. "Yeah... I did..."

Takato nodded. "That explains it...but didn't you realize what happened later?"

Rika looked up. "No, what?"

Takato closed his eyes. "I dunno what happened... whether it was just the trauma, or something... but later on... she broke up with me... I guess she just got over it... or maybe she realized something about me I didn't realize until after she left..."

Takato looked up at Rika, and blushed. "I... I realized that... I love you..."

Rika's eyes widened, and she blushed. "...T-"

Takato looked away, and hurried on. "But on Christmas, when I tried to give you a present... I was going to tell you how I really felt..." Rika's eyes widened further as Takato continued. "But... I saw Justin... and you... and... and..."

Rika looked closely at Takato's face. His tears mixed with the rain, as he continued. "I don't know... my heart felt like... it was cracking... but I still loved you... and... every time I saw you together... I felt worse and worse... and when Sacrosamon took him... and you were so sad... I felt even more worse then..." He squeezed his eyes shut, tears rolling down his face. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt... but you were... I couldn't stand that... I just..." his voice cracked. "I lost it... I wanted to destroy every bit of darkness that was hurting you... and when he came back... and attacked us..." he broke down sobbing.

Rika paused for a moment, then scooted closer to him, and hugged him.

Takato stiffened, and felt her tears running off her face and onto his shirt. "Takato... I guess I... felt the same way about you... but when I saw you and Jeri... and then Justin... and now..."

Takato gently pulled her head up to face him. They looked into each others eyes for a moment, the rain running down their faces with their tears. Slowly, gently, their lips came together, their eyes closed, and they fell into each other's arms.

**n. digital world**

Inside the house, the old digimon listened. The conversation had stopped. The only sounds were the pattering of the rain, the distant rumbles of thunder, and the beating of the two digidestineds' hearts.

The old digimon smiled, and got up to put a fresh pot of tea on the fire. "Incredible how therapeutic just talking can be..." he whispered.

**unknown**

Justin watched from a screen the world of light that he had found himself in. Kari looked over at him nervously.

He swallowed hard, then waved the screen away.

Kari looked at him closely. "...Justin...? Are you okay?"

Justin took a deep breath, then sighed. "... yeah... I think so..."

Kari paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. She swallowed, and slowly put her arms around him, whispering "It's okay..."

She felt him smile slightly. "...well, I wouldn't say that..."

She smiled, and leaned into him further.

**unknown**

Erika and her friend Carrie, who had just woken up, watched the two of them. Erika shook her head. "God, it's like watching a bad soap opera, isn't it?"

Carrie paused, and looked over at Ryan, who was still asleep. She sighed. "Yeah... I guess so..."


	5. A Couple

A Couple

Shadow- "Happy new year. And happy 'classes start again' day..."

Renamon- "Yay! Shadow's gone for half the day!"

Shadow- "...sometimes I hate you, you know that?"

Renamon- "Meh. Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Now go review this chapter when you're finished. Yes, I mean you, you hoards of un-caring people..."

* * *

**n. digital world**

The old digimon waited by the fire for the fresh pot of tea to be ready. He heard the door creak open and slam shut. He looked over his shoulder.

Takato and Rika stood there, trying to get the water off themselves, blushing furiously, and not looking at each other. The old digimon smiled to himself, and took the teapot off the fire. _It's not quite done, but it looks like they could use some..._

The digimon moved around to the other side of the table so the two digidestined could dry by the fire. After having a few sips of tea, the digimon asked "Now, Rika, what exactly happened?"

Rika blushed. "W-what?"

The digimon shook his head. "Not that... to the world in the sky."

"Oh..." she mumbled.

"Umm..." Takato looked over at Rika, then continued. "They kinda got destroyed..."

The digimon nodded. "Yes... but that's no reason to get upset."

The two digidestined looked quizzically at the old digimon. "You... do realize that things are different in our world and the digital world... don't you?"

The old digimon took a sip of tea. "Yes... but, as you said, things are different here..."

"Umm... what?" Rika said.

The old digimon sighed. "Some of your friends died before, yes?"

The two digidestined nodded.

"Well, then just do for the ones who died what you did for your friends."

"It... doesn't really work like that..." Takato mumbled.

"Yeah..." said Rika. "Last time, it took six people to bring back three..."

The old digimon paused for a moment. Finally, he asked "Did some of your friends die this time?"

Rika and Takato nodded.

"Well, then bring them back, and destroy whatever destroyed your world." the old digimon said.

"What then?" Rika asked. "What about all the other people?"

"What, you expect me to know everything?" the old digimon said. "If you don't know what to do, just wing it!"

Takato blinked. "Umm... okay..."

"Now get going!" the old digimon said. "While you were letting your tea get cold, the rain stopped. Go find your friends, then get back your other friends!"

When the two tamers didn't move, the old digimon yelled "Seriously! Go! Now!" he picked up a broom, and shooed the two tamers out the door. "And don't come back to visit!" he yelled at their retreating backs. "I like being by myself!!"

**n. digital world**

Izzy sighed as Tai and Trish got into a yelling match over helping Willis. "I knew this was a bad idea..."

"Well, I don't care if you can't help him!" Trish yelled. "Go find someone who can!"

"In case you haven't noticed, we don't have a planet anymore!" Tai yelled back. "How the hell am I going to find anybody?!"

"Use your digivice, braniac!"

"How about you look at the damn screen! The thing doesn't work!"

"Maybe yours doesn't, but mine does!" Trish grinned maliciously. "Maybe your fat ass crushed it!"

"My ass isn't fat!" Tai yelled. "The only big part of me is my hair, and I'm proud of it!"

Trish snickered for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Yeah, somehow I guessed your hair was the only big part of you!"

Tai blushed. "Wh-what did you say?!"

"Tai, shut up!" Izzy yelled. "What did you say about your digivice?"

Trish snorted. "That it works... unlike fat-ass's over there..."

Tai yelled something back at Trish as Izzy took out his digivice. His yell of "Prodigious!" interrupted the fight.

"The digivices work down here! It must be from interference from the crater... maybe radiation absorbing rocks... or maybe ther carter itself is blocking the static..."

Tai groaned. "Izzy... just get to the point!"

"Umm... right..." Izzy said. "The other digivice signals are congregated not too far from here. Most are in one big group, but two are separate..." he looked up and Willis. "We should be able to get Joe here soon..."

Trish squealed, and hugged Izzy. "Yay! Go Izzy! I knew there was a reason I'm dating you!"

Izzy blushed. "Umm... right..."

"The two of you are a couple?" Tai said. "Since when?!"

"Umm..."

TK sighed. "Can we deal with this later? Tai, shouldn't you go look for Joe?"

"I'm on it!" Tai yelled, racing out of the crater.

"...he didn't even get directions..." TK said.

"...not that he'd be able to follow them anyways..." Izzy mumbled.

Trish sighed. "Look, I'll go get Joe and the others, then we'll look for Tai... by sweetie!" she kissed Izzy on the cheek, and hurried off.

Izzy face was bright crimson. "You'd think I'd get used to that..."

TK turned to Izzy. "So when did that happen, anyways?"

Izzy sighed.

**unknown**

Erika watched Justin and Kari for a few more moments, then took off her shoe, and threw at them. It hit Justin on the head. "Yeah! Ten points!" she yelled.

Justin looked up. "What the hell was that for?!"

"To break up your stupid little soap opera!" Erika yelled back. "Now get over here! There are more important things!"

Justin sighed, but both he and Kari let go of each other, and floated over to where Erika and Carrie floated.

"What exactly are we supposed to talk about?" Kari asked.

"The crest auras!" Carrie said. "And how Justin and I are made for each other!"

"Umm... just who are you, exactly?" Justin asked.

"I have the same crest color as you!"

"Yes... but I don't think that matters..." Justin said. "Erika and Koichi share it as well, but there's nothing between them... and as far as I know, Kari doesn't like Kouji like that... right?"

Kari nodded.

Carrie sighed. "Dang it... you're so cute..." she shrugged. "Oh well... there's plenty other choices..." she said, looking over at Ryan.

Justin sighed. "I think what's more important is what's going on in the digital world... if they find a way to bring us back... I'd like to know about it."

"Just wait and watch?" Erika said. "That's kinda boring..."

"You got a better idea?"

Erika sighed. "...no..."


	6. Top Ten Reasons not to get Rika a Knife

Top Ten Reasons not to get Rika a Pocketknife

Shadow- "...crew started back up yesterday... and today we did a six mile run. That... was terrible..."

Renamon- "You okay, Shadow?"

Shadow- "No... I'm going to bed now..."

Renamon- "Well... okay... Shadow does not own digimon. And please review when you're done!"

* * *

**n. digital world**

A large group of digidestined walked through the broken forest. Takuya sighed. "Why am I the leader?"

"Because," Matt said, "I don't feel like doing it, and Davis is too stupid."

"I am not!" Davis said.

"Davis, you're the only one who hasn't realized that Kari doesn't like you!" Matt yelled.

"That's not true!" Davis shouted.

"Seriously..." Tim said. "I figured that out on the first day..."

Davis sighed.

Matt nodded. "Anyways, Takuya, that's why."

Takuya sighed. "I wish Tai was here..."

"Umm... dude... that doesn't sound right..." JP said.

Takuya groaned. "Enough with the Brokeback jokes! That movie wasn't even good!"

"So... you saw it?" Jen asked.

"NO!"

"Oh... I just thought that would've been kinda cool... most guys won't see it..."

"Yeah..." Yolee said. "I had to drag Ken to it..."

Ken blushed. "...can we not talk about that..."

Takuya sighed. "How the heck did we get from 'who's leader' to a movie from last year?"

Matt shook his head. "I have no idea..."

Takuya was about to add something else, but a shout from nearby attracted his attention.

Triah ran up, panting. "Damn... it! You're going... the wrong way!"

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Umm... are you okay?"

"Y-yah..." Trish said, just before passing out.

Matt bit his lip. "Umm... okay... so do we just turn around?"

"I dunno... hey, her digivice is working!"

"So is mine!"

Cody sighed. "You just noticed that?"

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"..."

Matt sighed. "Whatever... let's just get the group back together..."

**n. digital world**

Izzy was taking a nap. TK had finally stopped pestering him. Someone poking him in the arm woke him up. He pushed his computer off his face, which he had been using as a sunshade. Trish's face stared at him from two inches away. Izzy jumped, and tried to say something.

"Wha-" was as far as he got before Trish kissed him.

Izzy sat there, blushing and very confused, as Trish started talking.

"Hey Izzy! I found the others! What now?"

Izzy shook his head to clear it. "Umm..."

"Well, why don't we go to the mainframe?" Rika asked.

"Why?" Davis asked.

"To bring back our friends, braniac!"

Izzy nodded. "Good idea. But we need to make sure that nobody else is still on the digital world before we go..."

Izzy turned his computer on, and began typing.

Kazu looked over at Takato, and grinned. "Hey Chumley! Why are you all wet?"

Takato blushed. "There was a rain storm where we were..."

Kazu grinned even bigger. "All right, chumley! You finally got some action wi-"he stopped short as he felt something sharp dig into his back.

"If you finish that sentance," Rika muttered in his ear, "You... are... dead..."

Kazu's grin flipped over. "N-never mind..." he squeaked.

Rika sighed, and put something back in her pocket.

Kazu jumped away to a safe distance and yelled "Takato and Rika got some action!!!"

"You little shit!!" Rika yelled, taking a pocket knife back out and started to chase Kazu.

Izzy stopped typing. "Prodigious! Everyone's here!"

Trish tapped him on the shoulder. "Umm... not prodigious... that means some of our friends died..."

Izzy bit his lip. "Oh yeah..."

Trish giggled. 'That's okay, sweetie!" she kissed Izzy, then stood up and took out her digivice. "Digiport open!"

She disappeared through a portal, and the others followed suit. Kazu opened his portal, stuck his tongue out at Rika, and closed his portal. Rika grinned, and laughed maniacally. "Get ready to die you little son of a bitch..."

She opened a portal, and jumped through it.


	7. Four Digimon Again

Four Digimon... Again

Shadow- "Hello again. Thanks A LOT to Nameless Dragon, digi-writer1392, Dragonrider04, Chaos, Balance, Shadows, an... (the site cut your name off. Sorry.). Now, as for the rest of you..." (shakes fist angrily)

Renamon- "Oh, and by the way, Chaos, Balance, Shadows, an-? Shadow's said this before in PM's, but I think this is the first time we'll tell everyone: things are not always as they seem."

Shadow- "As a matter of fact, they almost never are!"

Renamon- "Yes. Also, a milestone today!"

Shadow- "I now have over 1000 hits to my profile page!" (fanfare starts playing)

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Now read and review."

* * *

**mainframe, sacred portal theta**

Kazu fell through his portal and collapsed to the ground. He looked around. Everyone who was supposed to be there was there. Except... _Oh no... where's Rika?_

He heard a whisper behind him. "Ready to die?"

Kazu turned white, and fainted.

**mainframe, sacred portal theta**

Rika kicked Kazu once. He didn't move. She grinned. _Well, that saves me from having to hurt him badly...oh well..._

Izzy shook his head. "Okay... no how did we get in the first time..."

Izzy looked around. "Umm... Rika, you were with Justin when he opened the door the first time... what did we do?"

Rika laughed. "You expect me to remember? I have no idea." She kicked Kazu again.

Izzy sighed. "That's just great... I remember we typed it in over here..." Izzy walked over to a panel on the wall then continued: "...but I don't remember the code..."

"Does anyone remember what we typed in?" Rika asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

Rika sighed. "Of all the times not to have Justin here..."

**unknown**

Kari, Justin, Erika, Carrie, and several others who had woken up were watching the digidestined.

Kari looked at Justin. "Do you remember what it was?"

Justin bit his lip. "...it had something to do with Darkness... but that's all I remember..."

Kari sighed. "At least you remember that much... I don't remember it at all..."

Erika reached over Justin's shoulder and tapped the screen, zooming the picture out. She stared for a moment, then said "Umm... what are those?"

"Are those bad guys?" Carrie asked.

Justin zoomed in on the four digimon, then smiled. "It's okay... I wondered what happened to them..."

**mainframe, sacred portal theta**

"Damn it!" Tai yelled, kicking the door. The only thing he achieved was a very sore foot.

Izzy sat down, defeated. "Well... what now?"

Henry thought for a minute. "Couldn't we just create a portal in?"

"That doesn't work." a voice above them said.

Everyone looked up.

Yggdramon, Kratomon, Martamon, and Yuamon floated above them.

Martamon shook her head. "We already tried... but it's made of some really strong material... even my Diamond Claws couldn't scratch th surface..."

Everyone continued to stare in shock. Yuamon tilted his head. "What? Is there something wrong?"

Yggdramon counted the digidestined with his finger. "Hold on a minute... Some of you are missing..."

Kratomon looked at Yggdramon. "Well, we did leave them down here for a long time..."

"Oh my god!" Martamon shouted. "They started to eat each other!"

Matt was the first person to regain his composure. "Umm... how did you guys get here?"

Yggdramon tilted his head. "What do you mean? We left you to see if there was a way in through the top.

"Oh yeah..." Izzy said. "That's when we were trying to rescue Rika and Justin..."

TK's mouth fell slightly open. "But... that was like two months ago...wasn't it?"

Yuamon nodded. "Two months and sixteen days."

"Give or take a minute." Martamon said.

"It took you two months to get to the top of this wall?!" Davis asked.

"No... just one month and five days." Yggdramon said. "The rest was searching and finding a way down."

No one could think of response. After a few uncomfortable seconds, Kratomon said "Well... any ideas?"

Tai shrugged. "Nothing..."

Henry looked up at Martamon. "You said you could get through the wall a little bit?"

The digimon nodded. "Yeah, but the walls are so thick that-"

Izzy cut her off. "There's a door here... it should be thinner here."

"All right!" Martamon yelled. "Diamond Claws!"

Shining blades appeared in her hands, and she flew at the door, and began slashing away.

After a few minutes, Tai asked "What now?"

Izzy sat down. "We wait."

The sounds of Martamon's constant attacks suddenly stopped, and they heard her yelp in surprise. They all looked up.

A little digi-gnome floated in front of Martamon. "Umm... did you just fly through the door?" Martamon asked.

The digi-gnome said nothing, but flew back through the door. Martamon looked at Yggdramon. "What the fuck was that?"

Yggdramon shrugged.

Everyone jumped at a sudden rusty sound of metal on metal. The doors slowly, agonizingly creaked open.

After they had finished, Matt said "I could've sworn it wasn't that loud last time..."

Tai shrugged. "Shall we?"

Everyone nodded, then walked into the darkened entrance hall.


	8. Purpose

Purpose

Shadow- "Hello yet again. This part of the story's almost over, (one more chapter after this, and two more parts!) so stick around! The good stuffs coming soon..."

Renamon- "It took you 80 chapters to get to the good bits?"

Shadow- "Um... not what I meant... oh, and if anyone says "Deus Ex Machina!", I'll fcking kill you! I stab at thee!"

Renamon- "..."

Shadow- "...what?"

Renamon- "O... kay... Shadow does not own digimon..."

Shadow- "And review!"

* * *

**mainframe**

The digidestined walked into the entrance hall of the mainframe. They stared. Things had changed. A lot.

The once shining white walls had half-rusted through, creating jagged plates which hung ominously off of the walls and ceiling. The digi-gnome that had let them in was the only source of light. Apparently, the overhead lights had rusted with the rest of the building.

A loud, agonizing screech echoed through the hall as the doors behind them closed. As they finished, a large plate fell from the ceiling, blocking the door.

Tai sighed. "Well... I guess we can only go forward now..."

The others nodded, then turned to follow the digi-gnome's light, which led them further into the mechanical decay.

After spending a few minutes picking their way through the debris that had already fallen from the ceiling, the digi-gnome stopped. It turned back to them, laugh/giggled once, and few up, disappearing into the shadows above.

"Well, that's just great..." Tai said. "What do we do now?"

A distant click sounded, followed by a deep, low, continuous thrumming sound that began to echo around the room. Slowly, a few lights began to flicker on. "About time!" Takuya yelled. "Why di-" the rest of his sentence died in his throat as the flickering lights lit up what was before them.

The large area in the center of the mainframe, which had housed enormous forests, rivers, mountains, seas, and the spire in the center, was in ruins. The forest was dead. The rivers were gone. The mountains were rubble. The sea had turned a blood red. The spire lay where it had fallen in the fight with Sacrosamon. Surprisingly, large pieces of it seemed to be intact still, especially the upper and middle sections, which had not been vaporized before.

The digi-gnome floated back down, squeaked once, and moved off towards the remains of the spire. The digidestined shrugged, and took out their digivices. They got on the backs of the digimon that could fly, and followed the digi-gnome.

After a few minutes of playing 'follow the stupid glowing thing', they landed next to one of the larger pieces of the spire. The digi-gnome floated inside through a large hole in the side. The digidestined followed. "Wow..." Sora whispered.

The platform on which they had revived their friends before stood in front of them. Nothing had changed. Except...

"Why is it sideways?" Davis asked.

"Because, this piece of the tower is laying on its side." Izzy said.

The digi-gnome bobbed up and down, squeaked, and flew over to a panel on the wall next to the platform. It disappeared in a burst of light, and the screen turned on.

A voice echoed from the static covered screen. "Ah, good... the digidestined..."

A distant sound of clanging metal echoed outside the room. "At last... I may get a chance... to rest..."

"Who are you?" Tai asked bluntly.

The voice sighed. "I... am the mainframe... I am the digital world itself... and I am so very tired..."

"What'd you need, a caffeine pill, or something?" Trish asked.

"Is that how you stay so perky?"

"Shut up!"

The voice chuckled. "No... I'm afraid it's much too late for that...what I remain here for... is to tell you the bad news..."

"That's a great purpose..." Rika muttered.

"I would've written you a note... except I don't have arms..." the voice said. "Anyways! This is what I have to tell you... you will not be able to wish your friends back as simply as you did before..."

"Why not?" Izzy asked.

"The digital world has been weakened by successive blows... the one that did the most damage was the destruction of the real world... The digital world can not last long without it... So I have had to spend most of my digi-gnomes to keep it running... but I have nearly run out..."

"What does that have to do with bringing our friends back?" asked Trish.

Henry thought for a moment, then said "Is it because the digi-gnomes' channeled our wishes the first time that we were able to bring back our friends?"

"It's a little more complicated than that... but essentially yes. Fortunately, it is the platform itself that brought your friends back... it just used the digi-gnomes for energy..."

"But... if the digi-gnomes are gone..." TK asked, "What will it use for an energy source?"

The voice paused. "I'm afraid... it will require power... lots of it... something only the highest level digimon can produce..."

"And we just fire that into the platform?" Tai asked.

A tinge of annoyance seeped into the voice. "No... there's no receptor for it... and it would require a great deal of energy to build... but there is another way..."

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?" Kratomon asked.

"It will require several digimon...or humans... to stand on the platform... and let themselves be destroyed."

"What?!" Tai shouted. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! We're not going to give up some of our friends!! Ever! That's what this whole trip is trying to undo!"

"I'm sorry..." the voice said. "There isn't another way..."

"Damn it!" Tai yelled. After a pause, he said "O-okay, who's being killed?"

"Tai!" Izzy shouted. "Listen to yourself!"

"I know!" Tai shouted. "...but... Kari... she's my little sister..."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Yggdramon finally spoke up. "We'll do it."

Martamon shot him look. "Yggdramon! What are you talking about."

"Whenever we tried to do something right, we always screwed it up..." Yggdramon said. "We might finally be of use to them..."

Kratomon and Yuamon nodded. Martamon paused for a moment, then sighed. "All right..."

The four digimon flew over to the platform. As they started to glow, Izzy shouted out "Hold on a minute! There has to be another way!"

Yggdramon shook his head. "There isn't..." as the light became too bright to look at, Yggdramon shouted. "Goodbye, digidestined! I'm glad we could be of use to you in the end!"

A large shockwave shook the room, the light disappeared. The four digimon were gone.

The voice started speaking again. "Good... final sequences initiating... digidestined, start focusing on your fallen comrades... wish with all your hearts for your friends!"

The digidestineds collectively closed their eyes, and started wishing. Slowly, but surely, light began to collect on the platform and outline their friends.


	9. Being Honest

Being Honest

Shadow- "HEY! CHAOS, S... you know, your names way too long. GET BACK HERE!"

Renamon- (sigh) "What'd he do?"

Shadow- "I'LL DEUS EX MACHINA YOU!"

Renamon- "...does that even make sense?"

Shadow- "I'll make it make sense. Anyways, GET BACK HERE!"

Renamon- "Well, since this is the last part of this... um, part, the next part (I need to find a better word for that) will be up soon. Oh, and Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "BUT I WILL OWN... er, pwn, HIM WHEN HE GETS BACK! Oh, and read and review."

* * *

**mainframe**

"Wish with all your hearts for your friends!"

The digidestined closed their eyes, and wished. Some whispered their names, some bit their lips in anxiety, and some just concentrated on their task.

Light slowly swirled into the forms of the humans and their digimon, then slowly melted away, leaving their friends standing there. Well, almost.

"Ouch!" Someone yelled as the group of friends fell sideways to the ground. Because of the orientation of the tower, they had materialized sideways.

Kouji shook his head as he got to his feet. "Okay... who fucked up the gravity?"

The others quickly got to their feet after him. "...so..." TK said. "What now?"

The voice from the wall answered him. "Simple. Find Sacrosamon, and defeat him."

"Sa- who?" Erika asked. "Who the heck is that?"

"Who the heck are you?" Matt asked.

"Why the hell should I tell you?" Erika shot back.

"They're... friends, of sorts..." Justin answered. "...We met them when we were... gone."

Izzy raised an eyebrow. "Did you meet anyone else?"

Justin shook his head. "No... it's kinda weird, but I bet it has something to do with the crests."

"What would they have to do with it?" Tai asked.

Justin started to answer, but Kari cut him off. "...he's right, okay? Some strange stuff happened..."

Tai sighed. "All right..."

Henry piped up. "Has anyone figured out how we'll even find Sacrosamon? I mean, he's obviously not in the real world or in the dark worlds... and he wasn't in the digital world, either."

"What was it's name again?" Erika asked.

"Sacrosamon."

Carrie thought for a moment, then asked "What does he look like?"

"He's... sort of gold and white..." Yolee said. "And I think some red, as well..."

The six new digidestined looked at each other. "That was him."

"Who was what?"

"The digimon you were talking about... Sacrosamon..." Carrie said. "He was controlling the digimon the attacked us..."

Her digimon nodded. "Yeah... and I think he addressed him as 'Sa-' before it cut him off."

"That's great!" Davis yelled.

"Yeah, one problem..." Izzy said. "How are we going to find their world?"

"Oh, don't worry about that." the voice said. "I'll take care of that. It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, or so..."

"...and then we get to kill him!" Davis yelled.

"Uh... yeah..."

The voice vanished to find Sacrosamon, and the digidestined just sat around, waiting.

Tai pulled Kari aside to make sure she was okay, and to find out what happened.

Rikz walked up to Justin. "Umm... Justin?"

Justin pulled his headphones off his ears. "Yeah?"

"Umm..." she rubbed one foot against her other heel. "I'm not sure how to say this... but... Takato and I-"

"Yeah, I know."

Rika blinked in shock. "But-"

"We could see everything that was going on when we were dead."

Rika blushed. "A-anything?"

Justin grinned. "Yup. ...You know, I didn't realize Takato could be that aggressive..."

Rika blushed deeper. "You saw that?"

Justin laughed. "No. I flipped it off after you kissed... but I know now!"

Rika growled. "You manipulative little son of a-"

Justin jumped up and backed away. "Hey, be careful! I saw what you did to Kazu!"

Rika took her pocketknife back out. Through gritted teeth, she rasped "I... swear..."

Justin looked to his left. "Oh, look! There's Kari. I think I'll go she what she's doing." he ran off.

"Come back here!" Rika yelled, giving chase.

Fortunately for Justin (and anyone between him and Rika) the voice chose that moment to speak. "Found it! It'll be easier if I just transport you there. Your digivices will remember how to get there and back." after a pause, it asked "Are you ready to go?"

"Hell yeah!" Davis yelled.

"Then goodbye... and good luck!" the voice yelled as light swirled from the platform to engulf the digidestined.

After a moment, all that was left was a few motes of light. They, too, quickly disappeared.


End file.
